Radiation tests on Fukushima nuclear disaster evacuees and others are showing a significant reduction in exposure to radioactive cesium, but a shortage of machines to carry out the checks means that thousands of people are still waiting for reassurance.
Radiation tests on Fukushima nuclear disaster evacuees and others are showing a significant reduction in exposure to radioactive cesium, but a shortage of machines to carry out the checks means that thousands of people are still waiting for reassurance.There are now about 20 whole body counters (WBCs), devices capable of measuring the presence of radioactive materials in the human body, in Fukushima Prefecture. However, demand far outstrips that provision.The devices require radiological technicians to operate them, expert guidance to interpret their results and cost around 50 million yen (about $625,000) each, but that has not stopped municipalities from reaching into their own pockets to try to ensure their residents are tested.In addition to six vehicle-mounted WBCs operated by Fukushima prefectural government, 14 devices are currently being operated by municipal governments, such as Minami-Soma city and Namie town, and hospitals, including Hirata Chuo Hospital in Hirata village.Minami-Soma can test about 100 people a day, but it still has a waiting list of about three weeks for its residents.It released encouraging results on May 15 based on tests conducted on 9,502 people. While radioactive cesium was detected in 68.9 percent of adults (senior high school students or older) in October 2011, that figure had dropped to 9.9 percent in March this year.The corresponding figures for children (junior high school students or younger) also fell from 32.3 percent to 0.8 percent.Radiation levels dropped in all 67 children who showed high radiation levels in their first checkups and received follow-up tests. Levels also fell for 112 of 114 adults who showed high radiation levels in their first checkups. Two men, both aged 60 or older, showed a slight increase in their levels.“Cesium has decreased for most of the people because it has passed out of the body in the form of urine or other substances. As for those whose radiation levels rose, there could be influences from food taken by them. It is necessary to continue to have checkups, including tests on food,” said Masaharu Tsubokura, a doctor at Minami-Soma City General Hospital, who was in charge of the WBC checkups for Minami-Soma residents.Many others have struggled to get tests. The Fukushima prefectural government started WBC checks in June 2011, focusing mainly on evacuees. However, the prefecture had to ask them to travel to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s office in neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture and other distant facilities with the appropriate equipment.In late 2011, it introduced a fleet of vehicle-mounted WBCs that has now increased to six, and by the end of March 2012, a total of 32,000 people, or about 2 percent of the prefecture’s population, had received the prefectural WBC checkups.That still meant many evacuees were being left out. All 21,000 residents of Namie town were evacuated to other municipalities due to the nuclear accident, but only 3,574 people got a prefectural test. Many Namie residents continued to live in high-radiation areas for some time after the nuclear accident because of delays in their evacuation, and many have been waiting for months for checkups.Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba said the situation had forced the municipality to get its own equipment.“We, the Namie town government, bought a WBC by ourselves because the central government is late in dealing with this health issue. We are definitely suffering from radiation exposure in our bodies, and we want to implement appropriate health checkups for our residents,” Baba said.At a temporary checkup facility at the Adachi Athletic Ground in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, the municipality began offering tests for the 250 evacuated Namie households currently living in temporary housing in Nihonmatsu on April 26.Five staff members, including radiological technicians, conduct checkups for about 50 people each day. The Namie town government plans to finish WBC checkups for all of its residents by the end of this fiscal year.In order to measure radiation levels in human bodies accurately, radiation levels in the surrounding environment should be low, but the radiation level in Nihonmatsu city ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 microsievert per hour.“That level is not low. But we were unable to secure an appropriate place,” said a Namie town government official.The town government decided to install the WBC in the temporary checkup facility in the athletic ground because a temporary clinic set up by the town government is located nearby and it is therefore easier for residents to receive explanations about their WBC results.Even if tests are conducted properly, there are still major problems with the reliability of some results. At a meeting of officials of municipal governments and hospitals responsible for WBC checkups and experts at the Fukushima Medical University on April 23, issues with the reliability of tests on young people were discussed.Although children, who are believed to be more vulnerable to radiation than adults, are being prioritized, the equipment is not designed for them.Ryugo Hayano, professor of atomic physics at the University of Tokyo who took part in the meeting, said: “WBCs were originally developed for adults. So it is difficult to measure (radiation levels of) small children accurately. We are now studying better methods.”(This article was written by Yoshinori Hayashi and Fumikazu Asai.)